Hegar toured the Klein facilities and met with local officials to discuss challenges and opportunities in the manufacturing industry. Late last year, Hegar wrapped up his Good for Texas Tour: Manufacturing Edition.

“Since it moved its manufacturing headquarters here from Illinois in 2011, Klein Tools has been an exceptional economic partner with the North Texas business community,” Hegar said. “The company has teamed up with the Mansfield school district to offer internships and training to high school students, and has partnered with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County to help people find jobs at its Mansfield plant.”

“This subsector suffered job losses in Texas beginning in 2015, coinciding with declining energy prices,” Hegar said. “Recently, however, its employment has shown signs of recovery, adding about 14,000 jobs from December 2016 to December 2017.”

In all, Texas manufacturers were responsible for 3 million direct and indirect jobs in 2016, as well as $210.3 billion in exports and $225.8 billion in GDP. Texas manufacturing jobs pay an annual average salary of nearly $74,000.